Taco Bell apologizes for botching pre-launch of Locos Taco

Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.

If Edna Garrett taught me anything, it’s that you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have the facts of life. Unfortunately for Taco Bell, a bit of that good is rubbing off on rival Chipotle, instead of its loyal customers.

As The Huffington Post reported, after Taco Bell announced on Facebook that it was releasing its highly anticipated Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco on Wednesday, a full day ahead of schedule, dubbing it “Fan Day,” fans went, well, loco. Alas, many enthusiasts were left with little to be enthused about. According to Business Insider, “this had the making of a great social media marketing fairy tale,” but when excited customers showed up at Taco Bells, they were turned away empty handed. It appears the social media marketers didn’t coordinate with the troops on the ground.

Although Taco Bell apologized for the mishap, and promised the new shell would be available at all locations on Mar. 7, the fiasco may have opened a door for rival Chipotle. VentureBeat notes that for whatever reason—too big a coincidence, if you ask me—the burrito chain updated its mobile app after four years of neglect. Chipotle communications chief Chris Arnold didn’t explain why the company rolled out a revamped app—without any advance noticed, mind you—but Gizmodo doesn’t care, touting it as “the most important app update” for your phone.

The newly updated app enables customers to place orders from their phone—but can they order something from Chipotle’s secret menu, perhaps its shadowy burrito, the elusive “quesarito”? According to Co.DESIGN, Chipotle is just one of the many restaurants peddling a clandestine menu that not even it considers a secret. Instead, it may just represent a shift in “fast-food philosophy” toward better customer satisfaction and customization.

Lifehacker reports that Panera Bread is one of the latest to join the underground menu circuit, prompting not only Consumerist to question how eateries publicize these covert food items, but also inciting Brand Eating to provide etiquette for how diners should go about ordering from a restaurant’s selection of veiled offerings.

All this food talk makes it easy to overlook that March is reportedly National Nutrition Month. To get those diets back on track, Time provides health tips from some of the fittest experts in the industry.

Stress certainly can’t be good for overall wellness. As it turns out, persistent marketers might be the ones responsible for that stress. According to Advertising Age, beauty brands are making consumers worry about problems they never knew existed, such as “stress sweats.”

Marketers are also poised to take center stage at this year’s South by Southwest festival. I say that both figuratively and literally.

With events scheduled to kickoff on Friday, Gigaom predicts that “this will be the year marketing mavens at SXSW finally overwhelm” the rest of the attendees.

On the other hand, ReadWrite foresees a lot of sex. The site reported on a new social network called Qpid.me that hopes to ensure anyone on “geek spring break” leaves STD free.

While that goes on behind the scenes, Doritos is stepping out on the stage. In launching its first global campaign, PepsiCo announced the brand’s return to SXSW, where Mashable reports LL Cool J will help headline its interactive concert on Mar. 14. Using the hashtag #BoldStage, tweets will power Doritos’ 62-foot vending machine stage, built with a four-story LCD screen.

Pringles, however, might be watching its curtain call. BuzzFeed highlights an unsettling review of the brand’s fat-free potato chips posted to Craigslist in Seattle WARNING: Language is disgusting and potentially NSFW (or life in general).

Meanwhile, Google is helping with the miracle of life, or at least that’s the idea behind a touching new spot for the company that chronicles an expectant young couple’s journey into parenthood: (via Creativity)

One of the most pressing matters surrounding new moms and dads often comes in deciding what to name their offspring. Then again, don’t get too hung up on it. As Complex reports, if your kids are anything like these famous athletes, they’ll just change it anyway.

As for something I’d never change: this video showcasing the priceless heckling of an Australian reporter. Are those spirit fingers? If so, somebody needs to make an appointment with Sparky Polastri. (h/t The Big Lead)